Elephant succumbs during delivery; calf dies in mother's womb

Palani, Tamil Nadu, Oct 16 (UNI) In a heart rending incident, a wild elephant succumbed to labour pangs and the calf too died in the mother's womb in the forest area here in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu.

Forest department sources said the 14-year-old jumbo died yesterday of breathlessness after facing difficulty in delivering the calf as its position was upside down.

The elephant, who had been carrying the calf for 22 months, developed labour pain after it strayed into a private farm at Mayiladum Parai in Andipatti forest area here, along with a herd.

As the calf was not in the right position, the pachyderm suffered from immense pain.

Hearing the elephant's trumpeting, farmers of the area rushed to the spot. However, it had breathed its last by then.

On information, forest officials conducted inquiries and a post-mortem was conducted by veterinarian from Neykkarapatti, Kesavan. The fully grown dead calf was also taken out from the mother elephant's womb.

After the post-mortem, the mother elephant and its calf were buried together in the forest area by the officials.

UNI